Read this Wildlife Art Journal article

On my tripod turned sculpting stand, I add lumps of clay, one on to another.  I work quickly; pushing and pulling clay, getting it under my fingernails, slowly and deliberately creating a work of art.

As far as models go, mine is not entirely cooperative. He is disinterested, grumpy and happens to be a silverback gorilla. While I intensely work to sculpt his facial features, he shoots back a glance.  Gorillas, especially males, have powerful penetrating glares.  To make eye contact in gorilla society is to make a threat.  Wanting to avoid any further conflict with my model, I sketch him while taking quick sidelong glances.

Is it him, or is it me who has better observational discipline? After sculpting for an hour or so I take my work back to the studio and work on it for several days until completion.

The clay will embark upon a journey through plaster, silicon, wax  and ultimately will be refined by molten metal. As the metal cools it reaches it’s final metamorphosis as a casting of solid bronze.  This bronze sculpture, however, was not destined for an art gallery it was headed to Germany.
 
I have always been captivated by gorillas. Their size, strength and expressiveness have no equal in wild nature. They are powerful yet gentle, bold as well as subtle. Their genetic makeup renders them more similar to Homo sapiens than in ways we differ.

Wild gorillas in Africa are in peril. They...